Re: [xml-dev] Who can implement W3C XML Schema ?

In a message dated 21/03/02 18:58:01 GMT Standard Time, 
noah_mendelsohn@us.ibm.com writes:


> All of us who worked on the schema specification understand the difficulty 
> of reading the specification.  We are and have been very concerned about 
> it. 
> 
> The language had a very broad range of user requirements, it was designed 
> by a large committee, and it emerged as a large language..  

Noah,

I appreciate the feedback.

I also think that the addition of Part 0 to the series of XML Schema 
Recommendations was a good idea. But perhaps it didn't go far enough?

I don't know if it will help to describe how it felt some months back coming 
to the Recs from the outside. I would spend hours reading pretty indigestible 
"prose" and then from time to time I would get those "Aha" moments - often 
accompanied by the thought "Well if that is what they were trying to say, why 
didn't they just say so?". It seemed to me, and still does that 
rigour/exhaustiveness, was bought at the price of clear and effective 
communication.

One practical suggestion that the WG may wish to consider would be to produce 
a Use Cases document of some sort which could provide a way into the 
abstractions. The XQuery use case document is a really useful cross-link for 
someone coming from the outside of the spec development process. It reduces 
the time between the "Aha" moments - I can see what it is the XQuery WG is 
trying to solve and that then facilitates following the logic towards what 
structure/approach needs to be supported. If something similar could be 
produced for XML Schema, either now or for 1.1 or 2.0 that might help get 
round the "hump". If such a document exists and I have missed it then please 
point me in its direction. Part 0 doesn't do what I am describing, at least 
not in my opinion.

Another possible improvement, perhaps in parallel with a Use Cases document, 
would be to split Part 1 so that it perhaps corresponded broadly to 
"straightforward" and "complex/demanding" use cases. I guess that is a huge 
amount of redrafting work and may be totally unrealistic in terms of 
available editorial time etc.

Those are possible practical suggestions that, for me at least, would make 
the entry point into W3C XML Schema easier.

Andrew Watt
Co-author XML Schema Essentials